RAIL. 1 95 



I was amusing myself with it, when, in the act of pointing my 

 finger at it, it suddenly sprang forward, apparently much irri- 

 tated, fell to the floor, and stretching out its feet, and bending 

 its neck, until the head nearly touched the back, became to all 

 appearance lifeless. Thinking the fall had killed the bird, I took 

 it up, and began to lament my rashness in provoking it. In a 

 few minutes it again breathed; and it was some time before it 

 perfectly recovered from the fit, into which, it now appeared 

 evident, it had fallen. I placed the Rail in a room, wherein 

 Canary birds were confined; and resolved that, on the succeeding 

 day, I would endeavour to discover whether or not the passion 

 of anger had produced the fit. I entered the room at the ap- 

 pointed time, and approached the bird, which had retired, on 

 beholding me, in a sullen humour, to a corner. On pointing my 

 finger at it, its feathers were immediately ruffled; and in an 

 instant it sprang forward, as in the first instance, and fell into 

 a similar fit. The following day the experiment was repeated, 

 with the like effect. In the autumn of 1811, as I was shooting 

 amongst the reeds, I perceived a Rail rise but a few feet before 

 my batteau. The bird had risen about a yard when it became 

 entangled in the tops of a small bunch of reeds, and immediately 

 fell. Its feet and neck were extended, as in the instances above 

 mentioned; and before it had time to recover, I killed it. Some 

 few days afterwards, as a friend and I were shooting in the same 

 place, he killed a Rail, and, as we approached the spot to pick 

 it up, another was perceived, not a foot off, in a fit. I took up 

 the bird, and placed it in the crown of my hat. In a few moments 

 it revived, and was as vigorous as ever. These facts go to prove ; 

 that the Rail is subject to gusts of passion, which operate to so 

 violent a degree as to produce a disease, similar in its effects to 

 epilepsy. I leave the explication of the phenomenon to those 

 pathologists who are competent and willing to investigate it. 

 It may be worthy of remark, that the birds affected as described, 

 were all females of the Rallus Carolinus, or common Rail. 



"The Rail, though generally reputed a simple bird, will 

 sometimes manifest symptoms of considerable intelligence. To 



